Rewritten
by The ACS Dude
Summary: At the very beginning of Naruto's career as a ninja, a mysterious stranger arrives in the Leaf Village with the intention of rewriting history.
1. Chapter 1: Halen

Author's Notes:

I haven't written any fanfiction in a while. Note that I only watch the dubbed anime (yeah, sorry) so I don't know everything that happens later in the series. The dub roughly up to the part where Sasuke says his "final goodbye" to Orochimaru and forms the Heavy. I'd appreciate it if no comments/reviews contained any spoilers past this point. Really, please just don't tell me. Obviously, since the knowledge of the characters in this story can't exceed my own, this also means that this is how far forward the Five can see.

This story is going to have a lot of recap of the plot you know, starting at the very beginning.

Anyway, please review or comment and let me know how I'm doing.

* * *

><p>"Looks like you drew the short straw, Halen."<p>

"Can't say I'm thrilled. I've never been much good at concealing my identity. Why don't we have Shin do it?"

Shin glared at Halen. Both men's dark eyes met and a sort of cold fire seemed to pass between. "Don't try to weasel your way out of this now. We all agreed. Whoever draws the short straw goes."

"So we did," admitted Halen coolly. The black flame hadn't left his gaze as he glared at Shin. "I still can't help but think that our purpose would be better served by you going, Shin. I am sworn not to leave our lord's side."

"That's enough. Halen. Shin." The voice that spoke was firm but quiet and free of malice, hard and soft at the same time, carrying the air of friendliness and command in every syllable. "Halen. You drew the short straw. You will go to the Leaf Village, posing as student shinobi born in the Land of Fire, seeking to pass the academy's exam and become a genin in service to the leaf. I will supply you with the necessary references for this infiltration."

Halen bowed his head very low. "Of course, my lord, if that is your will then it will be so, but I am sworn to never leave your service."

"You cannot be both in the Leaf and at our Lord's side," spat Shin venemously.

"On the contrary," replied Halen, his eyes flashing in Shin's direction. "I believe I can do exactly that."

The lord nodded gravely. "Whatever plot you have in mind, Halen, note that it must not jeopardize the mission. You know the stakes. Your oath to me is trifling compared to the success of this operation. You must identify the inflection point. The turning point. From your findings, it is my belief that you can do that by careful observation of two people: Naruto Uzumaki, the Nine-Tails Host, and Sasuke Uchiha, the youngest remaining of his clan."

The bowing Halen dipped his head even further. "Their paths are about to meet and become ever the twain, however distant from one another they might become."

Shin spat again. "You're going to waste your time tracking a pair of children? You think you'll find the inflection point in their cradles, do you? I've had enough of this. I'm going after the Akatsuki." Without so much as a hand sign, Shin's teleportation jutsu activated and he vanished.

A blue-haired man stepped forward from behind the lord, but the lord thrust out a cautioning hand and the newcomer stopped in his tracks. "Let him go. That was to be his mission anyway, but it is of lesser importance to Halen's. I do not believe the Akatsuki to be involved." The blue-haired man nodded and reluctantly backed away. With this, the lord turned his attention back to Halen.

"Go now, Halen. Report to me with your findings as often as convenient. If the inflection point is not found within one year, I will dispatch someone else to relieve you."

"Of course milord. I will go in your name."

"And Halen?"

"Yes, milord?"

"Don't draw attention to yourself."

Halen paused briefly, his dark features unreadable. "Of course, sir," he said at length.

"Dismissed."

At that, the four remaining projections flickered and died into nothingness one by one as the conference jutsu broke, and thus ended the meeting of the Council of Five.

* * *

><p>"Excuse me, could you help me? I'm a little lost. I'm trying to find someone named Iruka Umino. Do you know where I could find him?"<p>

The ninja guarding the gate grinned. "Sure I do. It's the middle of the day, so he's probably at the academy teaching. What do you want with Iruka? You look a little old to be starting school."

"I'm not. I'm supposed to take the Academy exam tomorrow to join the Leaf as a genin. It's just that I've never been here before."

"Oh ho. New around here are you? And what's your name, little guy?"

The guard ninja stood and ruffled the light-brown hair of the boy that stood before him. The kid was a little on the thin side, pretty tall for his age. He looked a little scrawny, but from what the ninja could see of the boy's form under his gray-black tunic and trousers, he was pretty strong and well-built too. He could be genin material. And he had his entire left arm bandaged up to his elbow – that probably meant he'd been trainin in taijutsu.

"My name is Halen," said the boy coolly.

"Halen, huh? That's a funny name. Well, Halen, if you've already got permission to take the exam as an outsider, then all you've got to do is follow this street straight down and take a left when you reach the end. There will be signs to the academy the rest of the way."

"Thanks," replied Halen, his eyes following the path. Something diverted his gaze up. "One question. Those faces on the mountain... those are the images of the hokages, aren't they? I thought they were supposed to be sacred icons, so why are they covered in graffiti?"

"What do you mean covered in-" He stopped mid-sentence when he saw the faces on the mountain. "Naruto," he breathed, and without another word ran off.

"Naruto, eh?" muttered Halen to himself. "I might have known."

When Halen arrived at academy after a sauntering walk, the first thing he heard was a yell.

"Because you missed it, Naruto, everyone will review the transformation jutsu!" There were audible groans.

The newcomer rapped his knuckles smartly on the open door.

A man with dark hair and a horizontal scar across his face wearing a leaf chonin's vest and headband poked his head out the door.

"You're Iruka sensei? My name is Halen. I was told to come find you."

"Oh! Halen. You only just arrived, then? Come in. I already heard all about your case from the Hokage. He said that you were referred to the Leaf by an old friend of his in a mountain monastery who trained you in basic ninjustu, and you want to take the academy exam, is that right?"

"That's right," said Halen, his voice still frosty. "I'm sorry to trouble you if you were in the middle of something."

"No, no not at all. It's just that... you've caught me at a bad time. You're about a year older than the rest of the students but why don't you come in and join the class? We were just about to review transformation jutsu. It would be a great opportunity to show everyone how much you know and I can see if you're really ready to take the exam or not." Iruka smiled warmly. Halen tried his best to give a little grin.

"Okay, sure."

Halen followed Iruka into the classroom. Iruka clapped his hand on Halen's shoulder and guided him to the center of the board, in front of the class, and smiled warmly at everyone.

"Hey, everyone. This is Halen. He's new in the class. Please don't treat him any differently just because you don't know him. Halen, why don't you introduce yourself?"

The new boy's eyes played over the classroom. His gaze lingered slightly first on a recently caught and visibly disheveled Naruto Uzumaki, then on Sasuke Uchiha's untidy hair and ruthless eyes.

"My name is Halen. I'm 13. I was adopted by the Sho Mountain Monastery when I was a baby and I've lived there most of my life. I've been training to become a ninja for a long time and I hope to pass the academy exam tomorrow. My specialty is stealth and information gathering. Oh, and I like to climb trees, I guess."

There was virtually no reaction from the class.

"That's great, Halen," said Iruka smiling broadly. "We were just about to review the transformation jutsu. Why don't you start us off?"

"What do you want me to transform into?"

"Oh. We always transform into me. A little vain of me, I guess, but at least it gets you all to pay attention to me!" There were weak chuckles from around the room as Iruka grinned.

Halen looked Iruka up and down. There was a puff of smoke, and suddenly there were two Irukas where before there had been one.

"That's great, Halen!" proclaimed the authentic sensei. In another puff of smoke, the newcomer resumed his previous form: a brown-haired, brown-eyed boy in a black jacket and gray pants with a bandage around his left arm.

"Before we move on, do you have any other jutsu you'd like to show us? Something you picked up that we might not have seen?"

Halen looked at the grinning Iruka, a mildly bemused expression on his face. "Sorry, sensei, but I don't have much chakra. If you really want-"

"Oh, no, no. I didn't mean to put you on the spot. Why don't you just pick a seat and we'll move on. Let's see. Who's next? Sakura!"

The newcomer ascended a few rows and chose a seat a little behind most of the rest of the class, sinking down into it. The spot afforded him a good view of everyone else, notably including the pink-haired girl in red who had just stood. After a burst of smoke, she became a mirror image of Iruka. The real sensei offered a few words of praise before Sakura reverted back into her real form, a young girl flush with success.

"Yes, I did it! Sasuke, did you see that?"

Halen frowned._ Sakura... what was her last name again? Haruma? No, Haruno. Sakura Haruno. _Halen sighed as he mentally reviewed what he knew of her. _Pink hair, typically red garb and scarf, medical ninja – or at least she will be one day – and an obsession with Sasuke Uchiha. She's hardly said two words and she already matches her profile._

"Next! Sasuke Uchiha."

Sasuke sauntered forward and accomplished the same transformation with both trivial ease and a bored demeanor. His hands never seemed to leave his pockets.

_And that's Sasuke Uchiha, alright_. _Minus his clothes, he's more or less identical to his mug shot in the Leaf Village Bingo Book. He hasn't changed much... or rather, he won't change much. His hair might be a little flatter than I'm used to seeing. And his fashion sense definitely takes a turn towards the traditional.  
><em>

"Naruto Uzumaki." The dark-haired boy and blonde girl flanking Naruto both muttered some cynical words to the orange-suited screw-up. Naruto advanced slowly forward, Halen's unblinking brown eyes trained on him.

"Transform!" he yelled, and in a puff of smoke appeared as a fetching young woman, totally naked. Iruka nearly fell over.

Halen sighed. _I guess Naruto doesn't change much either._

* * *

><p>"Your final exam will be on the clone jutsu. When your name is called, step forward into the room."<p>

Halen tapped his foot agitatedly until Iruka called his name. Iruka was seated behind a desk with a white-haired ninja the examinee didn't recognize next to him.

"How many clones do you want?" asked Halen, impatience seeping into his voice.

"As many as you can make," said Iruka, looking at his notes.

"I can make more than this room can contain."

Iruka looked up from his clipboard, surprise and skepticism written into his face at this apparent boast. "Okay, then," he said uncertainly. "How about ten?"

"Ten it is," said Halen. He checked himself as he performed the jutsu; he'd almost forgotten to use the hand signs. Being able to make ten clones as a raw academy recruit was suspicious enough without bypassing a few steps. Halen crossed his fingers and ten perfect clones appeared into being behind him. Iruka nodded.

"Very, very good, Halen. Pass. Here, you've earned this." He held out a leaf headband from the dozens lining the table. The infiltrator accepted it with a graceful thank you to both the instructors.

_That was easy_, thought the newly crowned "genin." _Too easy. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that I'm not the only person in this village who isn't what he appears. In fact, I know I'm not._ His eyes lingered briefly on the white-haired judge next to Iruka before he turned to leave.

Naruto was called in just as Halen left.

Halen leaned casually against the wall in the playground outside, stuffing his new headband less than ceremoniously into his pocket and closing his eyes. With that simple action, the power of his scryer's jutsu allowed him to see into the room where Naruto's final exam was then taking place.

Naruto approached the instructor's table and crossed his fingers. One decrepit clone fell to the ground in front of Iruka.

"YOU FAIL!" Iruka howled.

Halen's eyes snapped open. His scryer's jutsu was still active; his opening eyes had been an expression of surprise. This was the day that Naruto Uzumaki had graduated the academy. He was sure it was. His information couldn't have been that off. _What's more, Naruto is a master of the shadow clone jutsu. From what little I know of him, he should be able to produce hundreds or even thousands of clones without the slightest bit of trouble. I don't expect his skills to be as advanced at twelve as they are at sixteen, but these aren't even shadow clones we're being asked to make, and he can't even manage one? Something is very wrong here. Can my presence already have altered the timeline to this extent?_

The white-haired teacher was speaking, defending Naruto. "We could cut him a break and pass him," he was saying.

"Mizuki sensei, the other students created at least three effective replications, and Naruto didn't even create one. I can't pass him."

_Maybe there's some kind of appellate process that white-haired Mizuki person intends to initiate, _Halen decided as a dejected Naruto to emerged to sulk on the swing. _I'll just have to wait and see._

As the other boys crowded in a mob, congratulating each other on their success, Halen approached the solitary figure in the orange outfit.

"Hiya, Naruto," said Halen.

"Oh. Hiya, new guy. What'd you say your name was again?"

"Halen."

"Halen? That's a funny name."

"So's Naruto. Look, I just came over here to tell you that you shouldn't get too worked up about failing the exam."

Naruto looked up at Halen in surprise. "How'd you know that I failed? Cause I don't have a headband?"

"No. I spied on your exam. My specialty is collecting information, remember? I just wanted to say that I think you'll get a Leaf Headband. You'll become a genin. I'm sure of it. Call it a hunch."

"Yeah, thanks, new guy," said Naruto. It wouldn't have taken a ninja of Halen's caliber to tell that Naruto didn't mean what he'd said. Halen shrugged and turned to go, leaving Naruto alone on the swing. As he went, Halen heard Naruto call after him:

"By the way, new guy, my name's not just Naruto. It's Naruto Uzumaki, and I'm going to be Hokage one day! Believe it!"

"Sure," Halen yelled back with a sigh. At least Naruto had meant that one.

_This is going to be a long year_.

* * *

><p>The Third Hokage inclined his hat against the midday sun and took a thoughtful puff on his pipe.<p>

"One more thing, Iruka. Have you noticed anything odd about the new student, Halen?"

Iruka frowned. "Anything odd, Lord Hokage? I don't understand. You approved him to take the graduation exam personally. You said he was recommended to you by an old friend."

"Yes, and I would never have done so if I believed he was a threat to the village." The Hokage took another puff on his pipe. "However, I'm not so sure he's entirely normal. While I know that Master Sho of the Mountain Monastery would never betray my trust by sending a threatening individual into our midst, I've also never known him to take an apprentice or a pupil such as Halen."

Still frowning, Iruka flipped through his clipboard until he came to the notes about Halen.

"Well, Lord Hokage, there was one odd thing. In class, Halen said he didn't have much chakra but today he was able to produce ten clones."

"You think he lied to you?" asked the Hokage, removing his pipe.

"Maybe, but I think he said he didn't have much chakra because I kind of put him on the spot. I asked him to do a jutsu for the class... and you know, he's in a new place and and he doesn't know anyone. He's just a kid."

"I understand. All the same, I'm going to send someone to keep an eye on him."

Far away, in the room that he had rented, Halen was lying flat on his back and grinning to himself.

"So the Hokage's already on to me," he muttered. "He's a sly old fox. I'll give him that. So much for not drawing attention to myself."

Halen remained on his bed for minutes, then hours, as the time grew later and later. Day yielded to night, but Halen was watching all that transpired. Mizuki's conversation with Naruto, and Naruto's subsequent theft of the scroll. Halen watched Naruto practice and Iruka arrive, followed closely by Mizuki, and the battle that ensued, including Naruto's ultimate victory amidst a hundred shadow clones. Halen even watched the Hokage watching the same events in his own crystal ball, with his own scrying jutsu.

As midnight came and went, then the wee hours of the morning, Halen remained awake, the Leaf Headband he had won earlier that day still loose in his pocket. At four A.M., he finally decided to report in.

The air stopped and all color seemed to drain out of the world as the conference jutsu took effect, the image of the Lord of Five appearing from thin air in vapid green and electric blue.

"Was that really necessary, Halen?" asked the lord, observing the effects of the jutsu.

"Yes. The Hokage dispatched a member of the Anbu Black Ops to spy on me. She's on the roof right now, and I'd prefer it if she didn't overhear our conversation." With that, Halen relayed all he had seen. At the end of his report, he concluded, "I think I will need to allow myself the use of additional chakra and familiarize myself with everything we know about the Leaf. Clearly, I'm not nearly as familiar with circumstances as I should be."

"Never forget that you are impersonating a child. A fresh genin, more likely to be assigned to catch a stray dog than a rogue ninja."

"I know, my lord."

"I wish you'd stop calling me that. Check in again whenever you've found any useful information or... if you want to talk."

With that the lord's image disappeared and Halen finally lapsed into sleep. His last thought before he lost consciousness was that he'd underestimated Naruto Uzumaki, very nearly to his detriment. He wouldn't make the same mistake again.


	2. Chapter 2: A Fifth Wheel

Chapter 2: A Fifth Wheel

Halen's eyes snapped open and in an instant, he was awake. It was morning, 8 AM precisely. His eyes fixed on the calender nailed to his wall: it was the fifteenth of the month: orientation day for all genin such as himself. Using his scrying jutsu, he casually checked his roof. There was still an Anbu ninja concealed up there, probably scuffing up the tiles. Different from the one who'd been there the night before; Black Ops had changed the watch around daybreak. Halen had been aware of the switch even as he'd slept.

That notwithstanding, the imposter pulled on some clothes and ate a bowl of cold cereal, aware as he did so that Naruto Uzumaki across town was doing exactly the same thing. More accurately, Naruto was eating ramen. Sasuke Uchiha was already up and about, sitting impassively in the classroom waiting for orientation.

As he ate his cereal, Halen refocused his inner eye on the Anbu on his roof, trying to decide how best to deal with the interloper. The masked man in the black cloak was supposed to be tracking him on the Hokage's orders. Should Halen give him the slip and draw attention to himself, or consent to the stealth pursuit? Or maybe he should just confront the Black Ops member? No, a direct confrontation would do nothing but draw more attention to himself, and even if it didn't do any real harm, Halen decided he didn't much like the idea of a special operative following him all day. He made his decision as he tied his shoes: he'd shake the black ops member. The moment he finished tying the knot, Halen activated teleportation jutsu and appeared in the hallway outside of the orientation classroom. He grinned – the Anbu hadn't even realized he'd gone.

Halen took a seat at the back of the classroom that afforded him a view of the rest of the students and put his feet up. His relaxed position was only a front; in reality he concentrating. He had sensed the presence of prying eyes not his own.

_I see. So they're doing more than just keeping us waiting here for no reason. The Hokage is scrying on this room using his crystal ball. I'd love to block that meddling fool's vision, but that might cause a little too much ruckus. I'll have to settle for counter-scrying._

The infiltrator focused, and a room filled with jonin came into view. Standing nearest to the Hokage was a silver-haired ninja wearing a mask with his headband drawn down over one eye.

_And there's the one missing piece of this little puzzle. Kakashi Hatake._

As Halen spied, Naruto walked into the room and took a seat next to Sasuke. Halen kept one eye and ear on him, and the other focused on the distant room of the Hokage's. He paid little attention to the conversation Naruto had with a passing Shikumaru.

"What are you doing here, Naruto? This isn't for dropouts. You can't be here unless you graduated."

"Oh yeah?" A proud Naruto gestured to his forehead, to the space that his goggles had recently vacated. "Do you see this? Do you see this? Open your eyes, Shikumaru. It's a regulation headband. We're going to be training together! How do you like that?"

A pair of girls, Sakura Haruno and another Halen recognized from his dossiers as Eno, burst into the room shortly thereafter. Halen only gave them a moment's consideration when Naruto's head turned towards the pink-haired girl, his cheeks flush and his eyes somewhere between wide and hungry. The expression was enough to draw Halen's attention back from his counterspying to the classroom.

_I see,_ thought the imposter, fixing his real eyes on Naruto. _That's a slightly creepy look to be seeing from a child, but I understand now. Naruto likes – I guess the childish term would be he has a crush – on Sakura. She has a crush on Sasuke. And that pale-faced girl with the dark hair, Hinata, is staring at Naruto in much the same way. So Hinata likes Naruto, who likes Sakura, who likes Sasuke. But if the Sasuke of this time is anything like the one I saw, the commander of the Heavy, Sasuke has little room in his heart for anything but hate, so that chain of unrequited feelings stops with him._

Halen watched impassively as Sakura shoved Naruto bodily aside in a mad scramble to reach Sasuke. The Uchiha afforded her little more than a glance. A small fight broke out between the girls of the class seconds later, but Halen's attention had been directed elsewhere. It seemed the girls weren't the only ones watching Sasuke.

From his counter-scrying jutsu, Halen could see that the Hokage had fixed the gaze of his crystal ball on Sasuke. The jonin were discussing him... but the name on Kakashi's lips wasn't Sasuke Uchiha. Instead, he seemed to be interested in Naruto Uzumaki.

Back in the classroom, Halen noticed that the crisis situation around Sasuke seemed to have escalated. Naruto was now squatting on Sasuke's desk, glaring into the Uchiha's eyes. The girls, previously fighting amongst themselves, seemed to have united in a common disdain for Naruto.

_Sasuke might nor might not be interested to know that his touch with the ladies will, if anything, strengthen as he ages. I'm guessing it wouldn't be much consolation to him in any case. I was tracking him and Tsuigetsu when he found his way to that ice cream parlor by the Great Naruto Bridge... when the girl waiters starting falling all over him, he acted much like he's doing now._

Just as Naruto moved closer to Sasuke, his glare now only inches away from the other's face, the boy behind him bumped into Naruto and Naruto fell forward onto Sasuke. Their lips met.

Halen squeezed his eyes shut and willed his scrying jutsu back to the Hokage, wincing internally. _Oh man. I'm never going to get that image out of my head. _Unfortunately, the Hokage was also looking at the same thing through his crystal ball.

The two boys broke apart and began to cough and hack while the girls began a small riot. Halen kept his head down on his desk until Iruka arrived to restore order.

"As of today, you are all ninjas," Iruka finally explained. "To get here you faced difficult trials and hardships, but that's nothing. what comes next will be much more dangerous. Now you are only genin, first level ninjas. All the genin will be grouped into three-man squads. Each squad will be led by a jonin, an elite ninja. We want each squad to have a balance of strengths and abilities, so that's how we set them up."

Halen, from his spying, already knew the results of their deliberations, but no one else did. Sakura and Eno had a brief, quiet argument at the back of the classroom over who was going to be in Sasuke's squad. From the much simpler process of counting, Halen also knew something that apparently no one else had recognized: there were 19 genin, so one squad would have to be a group of four.

Iruka declared squad 7 first.

"Naruto Uzumaki. Sakura Haruno. And Sasuke Uchiha. Because we have 19 new genin, Halen Sho will also be joining you until we can group him into another squad."

The declaration apparently caused a minor crisis between the three proper new members of squad seven, as did the subsequent squad announcements. Halen ignored them. _If you're surprised now, wait until you find out who your jonin are going to be._

Naruto stood immediately. "Iruka sensei? Why does a great ninja like me have to be in the same group as a slug like Sasuke?"

"Hm..." Iruka closed his eyes in apparent recollection. "Sasuke had the best scores of all the graduating students. Naruto, you had the worst scores. To create a balanced group, we put the best student with the worst student."

Sasuke closed his eyes and rested his chin on his interlocked fingers. "Just be sure you don't get in my way, loser."

"What did you say?" shot back Naruto with a clenched fist.

"Hard of hearing?"

"Knock it off, Naruto!"

Iruka dismissed the class for lunch. Halen was slightly amused to find that of the four in the newly constituted squad, he was the only one who actually went to lunch: Naruto went to find Sakura to ask her to eat lunch with him, while Sakura went to find Sasuke for the same purpose. After a few bites from his cafeteria sandwich, Halen decided he ought to be looking for someone too: Kakashi. His intention, however, quickly changed when he, via his scrying jutsu, spotted Naruto ambush and restrain Sasuke, then assume his appearance.

_You may not find it so easy to incapacitate Sasuke in the future, Naruto._

Halen didn't even give this a second thought, only a smirk, and was only dimly aware of Naruto's shenanigans that followed. Instead, he went to Kakashi. He found the silver-haired ninja buried in a book from his breast pocket, casually sauntering away from the Hokage's meeting. Halen perched himself on a nearby low-hanging rooftop.

"Kakashi Hatake."

The jonin looked up, and Halen dropped down to the ground a few feet away from him.

_Kakashi Hatake of the Sharingan Eye, also known as the Copy Ninja. I don't need a dossier to tell me about him. The son of the White Fang, Kakashi Hatake is a legend in his own right, and he's one of the Leaf's seniormost jonin and most powerful fighters. His war record speaks for itself. Appropriate that he would play the mentor to both Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha._

"You're Halen, aren't you? What can I do for you?"

"You're the jonin mentor for squad 7, and I've been temporarily assigned to you. You're supposed to meet us right now. I can't help but notice you're walking away from the meeting spot."

The small exposed portion of Kakashi's face hosted an expression of surprise. "How do you know that I'm your jonin mentor?"

"Information gathering is my specialty."

"Well, Halen, if you're good at information gathering, can you tell me what the rest of the squad is doing now?"

Halen nodded solemnly. "Naruto is impersonating Sasuke. Sasuke just freed himself from his own residence and is going to find Naruto. Sakura is trying to get Sasuke to kiss her."

"I see. Well, I'll be by in a little bit once you've all settled down."

With that, Kakashi began to walk slowly away. Halen watched him go with unblinking eyes.

_I know why you're always late, Kakashi Hatake. You see, whether you realize it or not, we've met before. I was there on that day, hiding in plain sight... that day you got your sharingan._

The imposter ninja returned to his room and tracked Kakashi as he and the Hokage visited Sakura, Sasuke, and Naruto's residences in turn.

_I see. They're doing a little snooping of their own into our rooms. In that case, I'd best just stay here. Maybe give them a little scare... not enough of one to make them suspicious, but enough to make them wary. _Halen activated his camouflage jutsu and disappeared into the walls of his flat just as the Hokage and Kakashi approached, letting themselves in.

"This is the residence of Halen Sho," the Hokage was saying as he entered. "He'll be joining your squad temporarily, until more suitable arrangements can be made."

Kakashi turned, ready to speak, but Halen didn't afford him the opportunity. Instead, he dismissed the camouflage jutsu and emerged from the bathroom, and for all the world it seemed as if he'd just come out.

"Lord Hokage. Kakashi. How can I help you?"

The Hokage's wrinkled old eyes turned towards Halen with a modicum of surprise, but not the slightest amount of shock registered in the visible portion of Kakashi's face. He merely looked bored.

"Hello again, Halen," said the copy ninja, his one good eye still half-closed. "I was wondering when you'd join us."

"You knew I was here? No less from the great Kakashi Hatake." Outwardly, Halen gave a small smile. Inwardly, he was still calculating. _I knew Kakashi would be able to smell me through that basic level of camouflage jutsu. He had a penchant for ninja tracking hounds in his younger days. _

"I apologize for the intrusion," said the Hokage, tipping his hat slightly. "I hadn't realized you were home. We will leave."

"No, by all means," returned Halen. "Look around. After all, it would be unfair to Sakura, Naruto, and Sasuke if you'd seen their rooms but not mine."

The Hokage gave Halen a look somewhere between questioning and stern.

"How did you know that we'd been to your squad mates' houses as well?"

"Information gathering is his specialty," answered Kakashi with an odd smile. Between his mask and the headband over his eye, you could only tell he was smiling from how open his other eye was. There were only a few other indications.

"I'll be waiting for you at the meeting spot when you're done here, Kakashi," replied Halen, and hands in his pockets ambled out of the room.

* * *

><p>"He's late," complained Naruto.<p>

"Just sit down, Naruto!" said Sakura, shaking her head.

"How come our teacher is the only one who's late?" shot back the blond genin. "I'm ready to go here! Believe it! The other groups all met their new teachers and took off on some adventure or something and Iruka sensei's gone too!"

"We know, okay," replied the other, shutting her eyes against the apparent mental strain of speaking with Naruto.

"I think you'll discover that Kakashi is typically late as a matter of course," said Halen quietly. "I understand it's in his nature."

Naruto didn't seem to be listening. Instead, he was wedging a chalk-filled eraser between the door and its frame, right at the top of the doorway.

"Hey, what are you doing? Naruto!" Sakura had her hands on her hips, while Naruto giggled to himself.

"That's what he gets for coming late! Surprise!"

"Two things," remarked Halen from the back of the classroom. "First, Kakashi's hair is already silver so the chalk dust from the eraser won't do anything to him. Two, if Kakashi fails to dodge that eraser it's only because he will have chosen not to avoid it, not because he couldn't. It will be because he wants you to underestimate him, Naruto. You of all people should understand this – you who are so often underestimated yourself."

The kid in the orange jumpsuit squinted up at Halen.

"Hey, new guy. You know what your problem is? You talk too much and never do anything. It makes you think you're so smart."

Halen shrugged and leaned forward in his chair at the back of the room. "I've spoken only the truth... and tomorrow, I'll do much more than just talk."

Just then, Kakashi's hand appeared around the corner of the door. Naruto pivoted around, Halen forgotten, and watched the entering jonin as if he were a boy staring at a candy shop window. Even Sasuke's cold eyes pivoted to the portal as the copy ninja pulled the door ajar and walked through. The eraser slowly fell from the top and struck him squarely on the head.

As Naruto laughed and Sakura apologized, Kakashi slowly picked up the eraser.

He looked first at the eraser, then at a guffawing Naruto, an apologizing Sakura, and a cold Sasuke. The copy ninja spoke slowly. "Hm... my first impression of this group... how can I put this...? You're a bunch of idiots."

A minute later, they were standing outside the academy, Kakashi leaning carelessly against the nearby rails.

"Why don't you introduce yourselves?"

Sakura looked confused. "Introduce ourselves? What should we say?"

"Things you like. Things you hate. Dreams for the future. Hobbies. Things like that."

"Why you tell us that stuff first?" returned Naruto.

"Me? I'm Kakashi Hatake. Things I like and things I hate... I don't feel like telling you that. My dreams for the future... never really thought about it. As for my hobbies, I have lots of hobbies. Okay. Your turn. You on the right, you first."

As Naruto spouted facts about himself, including his love of ramen and ambitions on the title of Hokage, Halen eyed Kakashi with a degree of suspicion. _I know what Kakashi is planning to have us do tomorrow, and he knows as well as I do that the battle has in essence already started. Information is power. It enables lateral warfare. The more we give away to him now, the more advantages he has come tomorrow morning. That's why he said so little about himself - he doesn't want to afford us the same advantages. Unfortunately for him, I already know quite a bit about him._

Sakura's self-description followed. She was hardly able to string two words together competently, but her constant, blushing sidelong glances at Sasuke at her likes, hobbies, and dreams for the future were indications enough. She declared her hatred for Naruto with much greater conviction and fluency.

Halen nearly closed his eyes in a mental cringe. That was certainly information Kakashi would exploit without hesitation.

"Last one," said Kakashi.

"My name is Sasuke Uchiha. I hate a lot of things, and I don't particularly like anything. What I have is not a dream, because I will make it a reality. I'm going to restore my clan and destroy... _**a certain someone.**_"

There was a brief silence that followed. Halen reopened his eyes and looked at the back of Sasuke's head and the Uchiha fan emblazoned on his blue shirt.

_So even now, Sasuke is obsessed with Itachi..._

"Good. You're each unique and you have your own ideas," said Kakashi at length. Halen turned his attention to the copy ninja.

_ You mean to dissuade him, Kakashi. I can see it in your eyes. You will try, and you will fail. That is not the inflection point that I have been sent here to find._

"I think you've forgotten me," interjected Halen.

"I haven't forgotten you, I just didn't think you'd say anything," replied Kakashi.

"That marks you as a good judge of character, but I'll say something. My name is Halen Sho. I don't really feel like telling you my likes or dislikes... I have many hobbies as well... and let's just say I spend quite a bit of time thinking about the future."

Later that night, well after Kakashi had informed them of the pass-fail nature of their "mission" the following morning, Halen report back in to the Council. The Lord of Five's translucent image flickered into being as the conference jutsu activated.

"You have something to report, Halen?"

"No. I just wished to inform you that I'm going to permit my own use of my armorer's power."

"Your armorer's power?" The Lord's eyebrows raised in surprise. "Do you intend to access the Council Armory, or do you think you'll have to improvise a weapon?"

"Either. It doesn't matter. Kakashi Hatake, the copy ninja, intends to put his squad including myself through the trial of bells tomorrow."

"You mean that practice of the Third Hokage's of forcing his disciples to try to steal a bell off of him? Are you certain?"

"Fairly so. It's a practice that runs from master to pupil. Kakashi mentioned that two-thirds of the genin who graduated will be sent back to the academy. I know that the three regular members of the squad must have passed this test without my intervention, so I'll try to involve myself as little as possible tomorrow, but if I have to challenge the Copy Ninja, I'm more than likely going to need my armorer's power."

"What for?"

"Getting the bells in a way that isn't suspicious."

The Lord slowly nodded. "Okay, Halen. I trust your discretion. Is that all?"

"Yes, my lord."

The other man hesitated, as if he were about to rebuke Halen, but apparently thought the better of it. The conference jutsu broke and he disappeared. Halen fell back into his bed and closed his eyes, meditating on the day to come.


	3. Chapter 3: Trial of Bells

Author's Notes: I know the story has been mostly recap up to this point. The fic starts diverging from the canon of the anime here.

* * *

><p>Chapter 3: Trial of Bells<p>

It was 5:00 AM when a very tired trio, Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura, converged on the hilltop that Kakashi had designated. More than three hours slipped by as they waited for Kakashi.

As 8:00 came and went, Naruto rustled his blond hair impetuously. "Oh, come on? Where's Kakashi sensei? Or Halen, for that matter?"

"Halen's right there," said Sasuke, his arms still crossed and his dark eyes narrowed on the approach to the hill.

The orange-suited ninja squinted in the direction Sasuke was looking. Sure enough, Halen was making his way over the top of the hill towards the other three. Naruto sprang to his feet.

"Hey, new guy, where the heck have you been? And where's Kakashi?"

Halen, wearing the same black shirt and gray slacks he had worn yesterday, slowly stopped a few feet away from Naruto and gave him an appraising look.

"It's like I told you yesterday. Kakashi Hatake is never on time for anything, not since the day he became a jonin. He'll be along shortly. As for what I was doing, I slept in and ate breakfast."

Sakura's eyes widened in surprise. "Kakashi sensei told us not to eat breakfast."

The infiltrator shook his head. "I'd technically think of what he said as an advisory opinion, not a hard and fast ruling. Besides, even if he had ordered us not to eat breakfast, I still would have done it. I'm not about to fight on his terms. I think we'll need every advantage we can get when fighting Kakashi... and speak of the devil."

Kakashi had just sauntered up the same path as Halen to just before the four genin candidates. He raised a hand in greeting.

"Morning everyone. Ready for your first day?"

Naruto and Sakura yelled something about the jonin's tardiness while Kakashi gave an excuse about a black cat crossing his path. Halen ignored the conversation and sank down into the cool shade of a nearby tree and leaned against the trunk, closing his eyes.

The copy ninja, meanwhile, plunked a clock down on a tree stump in the clearing.

"It's set for noon," Kakashi explained. "Your assignment is very simple. You just have to take these bells from me. That's all there is to it. If you can't get them from me by noon, you'll go without lunch. You'll be tied to those posts and you'll watch while I eat my lunch in front of you." He dangled three bells, silver with red straps, from his left hand in a particularly lackadaisical manner.

As Naruto wailed slightly at the thought of his own present and future hunger, a thought seemed to cross Sakura's mind.

"Wait a moment! There's four of us! How come there's only three bells?"

"Well, that way, at least one of you will end up tied to a post and disqualified for ultimately failing to complete the mission. That one goes back to the academy. Then again, all four of you could flunk out too."

Halen opened his eyes slightly. Kakashi was smiling, but Halen was frowning.

_The point of this exercise isn't just to defeat you, it's to humiliate you. It's to show you how little you ultimately know about being a ninja and how far you still have to go. But the fact that there are just fewer bells than people makes me suspicious of a divide-and-conquer aspect, like he thinks that by pitting us against one another he'll teach us something about teamwork. It's what called a supposed-to-lose fight, but what's the real point of the test? It can't be to actually get the bells. It would take more than a few genin to get them off Kakashi._

The infiltrator closed his eyes again, and the record of a very different exercise flashed through his head. He ignored the remainder of Kakashi's statements of the rules.

"You can use any weapons, including shuriken. If you're not prepared to kill me, you won't be able to take the bells."

"You couldn't even dodge that eraser," Naruto reminded the jonin.

"Class clowns are usually the weakest link. Lowest scores. You can safely ignore them. When I say start, you can begin."

Naruto growled heavily at Kakashi. Halen opened his eyes again – Naruto looked like he was about to pop a vein. The yellow-haired ninja drew a kunai knife and charged at Kakashi. The jonin disappeared, and in a flash he'd twisted Naruto's arm behind his back and forced the kunai to the back of the blond genin's neck."

"Don't be in such a hurry. I didn't say 'start' yet."

Sakura and Sasuke stumbled back from Naruto in surprise. Halen watched the maneuver with eyes half-open, then closed them again and rested his head back against the base of the tree. _That was pretty spry, but battles don't begin and end when you will them to, Kakashi._

The copy ninja released Naruto. "But you came at me with the full intention of destroying me so... how can I say this? I'm actually starting to like you guys. Get ready. And... start!"

Sakura and Sasuke leaped away and disappeared into the cover of the forest. Naruto merely sprung backwards. Halen didn't move a muscle, remaining in the shade with eyes closed. His scrying jutsu was all the vision he intended to use.

_You're probably thinking something about how ninja are supposed to conceal themselves effectively, eh, Kakashi? If we take your premise for this battle at face value, there's little point in hiding unless we can cloak our scents. We can't. _Halen reconsidered. _Well, probably not. Even so, I'm not so sure what Naruto did was exactly wise..._

The blond ninja trainee was standing directly before Kakashi, arms crossed, yelling something about a straight fight. This seemed to have shocked even Kakashi momentarily.

"You know, compared to the others, you're a little bit... weird," decided the jonin.

"Oh yeah, the only thing weird here is your haircut!"

Naruto charged towards Kakashi, but the jonin stuck one hand in his pouch of ninja tools, hanging from the left side of his belt. The charging Naruto skidded to a halt and eyed the pouch suspiciously.

"Shinobi battle techniques, part 1. Taijutsu, the physical art." Kakashi pulled a book out of the pouch and opened it.

Even with his eyes still closed, a quizzical look crossed Halen's face.

_Makeout Paradise, written by Master Jiraiya, I seem to recall. That's smut. I think I'm starting to get insulted._

Kakashi shrugged off a complaint from Naruto. "With your weak attacks, it doesn't matter if I'm reading or... whatever."

Naruto flung several clumsy blows at Kakashi, which the jonin dodged effortlessly. After the third strike, the silver-haired ninja disappeared and reappeared behind Naruto, his hands together in the sign of the tiger.

"Don't let your enemies get behind you all the time."

_That's not a jutsu. He's not channeling any chakra. _Halen's frown deepened.

Sakura yelled a warning to Naruto much too late.

Kakashi thrust his fingers forward. "Leaf village secret finger jutsu! Thousand years of death!"

Sakura, Sasuke, and Halen all collectively winced as Naruto jumped into the river. Kakashi resumed reading. Suddenly, two shuriken – thrown by an underwater Naruto – broke through the water's surface. Kakashi simply caught them, and Naruto dragged himself out of the river.

"I'm going to pass this test, and I'm not going to back to the academy! I will become a ninja!"

As Naruto declared this, a half dozen shadow clones broke out of the water and charged at Kakashi.

"Great technique, but I don't think you can maintain it for very long. You talk like you're the best, Naruto, but you're still the worst student. You can't beat me with this jutsu."

Halen cracked a smile as two orange-sleeved limbs wrapped themselves around Kakashi's waist.

"What? He got me from behind?"

_You're even a good actor, Kakashi, but I know you're not that easy to ambush..._

"Didn't you say don't let your enemies get behind you? Good advice sensei!"

Eight Narutos jumped onto Kakashi, but in a flash Kakashi was nowhere to be seen, and the Narutos were fighting amongst themselves.

Halen's smile widened. _Using a substitution jutsu on a shadow clone was a nice touch..._

A light in the grass caught Naruto's eye.

"A bell?"

Sasuke sighed. On the other side of the clearing, Halen did the same as Naruto walked directly into a rabbit snare and found himself dangling upside-down from a tree branch.

_The irony is that there was only one snare, _thought Halen as Kakashi emerged to recover the bell. _If Naruto had used a shadow clone, say, to try to recover the bell instead of going himself he would have gotten it. In fact, he could still use a shadow clone jutsu to get the bell, he just doesn't have the wits to try it._

"Think before you use a jutsu, or else your opponent might use it against. Oh, and also, if the bait is obvious... don't take it. A ninja must see through deception."

"I get it!"

"You don't get it. You think you get it, which is not the same as actually getting it. Get it?"

It was exactly then that Sasuke threw six kunai and shuriken at Kakashi's unguarded back in an enveloping pattern. Sakura screamed and Naruto started to yell. Halen sighed as the substitution jutsu took effect and the jonin's form was replaced with a log riddled with shuriken.

_It was a good move on Sasuke's part, but not good enough. I expect no less from him... Sakura, on the other hand, has just revealed her position for the second time. It looks like Kakashi is going to remind Sakura that one should be silent while trying to hide rather than counter-attack Sasuke._

Kakashi's escape via substitution jutsu had an electric effect on both Sakura and Sasuke, who began to desperately relocate. The copy ninja intercepted Sakura part way and another one of her piercing screams echoed through the forest as Kakashi caught her in a genjutsu.

"I think I overdid it a bit," muttered Kakashi to himself, still reading his book as Sakura fell to the ground. "But she's got to learn to see through these things. Shinobi battle skill number two, the illusion jutsu. Sakura studied it in class, but she still couldn't see it coming."

Meanwhile, Naruto cut himself down only to be caught in a second snare and pulled back up into the tree.

_There __**was**__ only one snare. He set a second one was a he left. _Halen was still relaxing in the shade.

Kakashi appeared in a flash behind Sasuke, some distance away.

"I'm not like Sakura and Naruto," said Sasuke, his eyes keen, his back still to his opponent.

"Say that after you get one of these bells," replied Kakashi.

Sasuke turned to face the copy ninja.

_Let's see what you can do, Sasuke Uchiha of the Heavy_, thought Halen, his eyes again snapping open. _Four years from now, I happen to know that you'll have the wherewithal to take down Kakashi Hatake single-handed. At least, I estimate that you do. How much of that strength do you have now?_

"New guy? Hey, new guy!" yelled Naruto. "A little help? Can you get me down from here?"

Halen glanced at Naruto, still dangling from the tree across the clearing and sighed. "Just a minute. Sasuke is fighting Kakashi and I want to watch."

"Yeah, thanks a lot," said Naruto sarcastically as he brought his kunai up to his feet again.

Sasuke opened the battle with a barrage of kunai. Kakashi dodged easily, but the throw cut a rope that Sasuke had apparently planted there earlier.

"A trap?" exclaimed Kakashi, narrowly avoiding a barrage of knives. As he slid backwards, the Uchiha appeared behind him and attacked with a kick, which Kakashi caught, followed by a punch and a kick with his other leg. Kakashi managed to catch all three attacks, leaving Sasuke suspended upside-down with only one arm free.

_That's not his objective, though, Kakashi. Sasuke is goal-oriented._

With a grin, Sasuke made a swipe at the leftmost bell hanging from Kakashi's belt. Even with Kakashi's great speed, Sasuke only missed having the bell in his grasp by about a tenth of an inch.

_I can't help but notice that Kakashi isn't reaching for his book anymore. Sasuke's played him for a fool. Kakashi got careless and it almost cost him this whole exercise. If Sasuke had actually grasped that bell, and it was a near thing, Kakashi would have to do some explaining to the Hokage. I don't think that even the Sannin – or the Fourth, for that matter – got the bells during this training exercise. Admittedly, I don't rightly know. I can't say I was there to watch, but really the only way Kakashi could lose a bell is negligence._

"Hey! There are some boxed lunches down there!" Naruto exclaimed, still hanging from a nearby tree.

"Shut up, Naruto," shot back Halen. "I'm still trying to concentrate on this battle."

Sasuke's hands were moving like the wind, but not nearly so fast that Halen's couldn't read the signs. Horse, Tiger – fire style, fireball jutsu. Kakashi's eyes widened in surprise.

"What? Genin can't do fire jutsu. It takes too much chakra!"

So skeptical was he that Kakashi barely escaped the ensuing fireball.

_That's the second time you've underestimated Sasuke. Clearly you're not familiar with his direct family. If you were fighting Itachi at Sasuke's age, you would have already lost one of your bells, Kakashi. I must say, though... while I'm not exactly disappointed, I expected Sasuke to be stronger._

Sasuke looked around wildly for his opponent. The attack came from below him. Kakashi's hand broke the earth, grasped Sasuke's leg, and pulled its owner down underground until only his head remained uncovered.

"I'm where you least expect me. Right under your feet. Earth style, headhunter jutsu. Can't move, huh? That was ninjutsu, the third shinobi battle skill. You have talent, and you're right, you are different from the others, but different isn't always better. They say the nail that sticks up is the one that gets hammered down."

_They also say that the tallest tree is the one the axe strikes first. Something that perhaps even __Kakashi himself doesn't realize is that he's overwhelmingly unlikely to attack from above. Don't ask me why, but he prefers to attack from underground rather than the air. It makes him oddly predictable in some ways, but of course Sasuke had no way of knowing that. He's underground right now because he didn't. He looked up but not down._

Inner eye still on Kakashi, Halen was roused from his stupor by Naruto's chuckling. He'd gotten to the boxed lunches.

"What are you doing, Naruto?"

"Sensei said that we don't eat lunch if we don't get a bell, but if I eat my lunch now, there's nothing he can do!"

"Well you'd better hurry up. He'll be here in about a second."

"Huh?" Naruto glanced at Halen bemusedly.

_That was his second._

"Hi there," said Kakashi, from his perch on top of the memorial stone overlooking the boxed lunches. Halen closed his eyes as Kakashi enacted retribution on Naruto, focusing back on Sasuke and Sakura. They'd joined up back at the clearing.

With Naruto tied back to a post, Kakashi finally turned his attention to Halen.

"You know, Halen, I'm surprised at you. I thought for sure you'd try something, but all you've done is just sit there. Don't you want to attack me?"

Halen leaned more heavily against the tree and stretched, the shade still covering his face. His eyes opened and tracked the sun through the upper foilage of the branches.

"Not really. I'm not so good at all this direct combat stuff. Like I told you, information gathering is my specialty. I don't have any desire to have a straight fight with a jonin."

"If you really intend to be a ninja, Halen, there are going to be times when you won't be able to avoid direct combat, and unfortunately for you, now is one of those times."

With that, the jonin disappeared, reappearing on Halen's left side, his arm outstretching in an apparent bid to grab the fourth genin. Kakashi's hand closed on open air as the image of Halen disappeared.

"A clone jutsu?" Kakashi's eye spotted a fragment of white cloth in the grass beneath the tree. "And a fragment of bandage from your left arm to mask the fact that your clone wouldn't have a scent."

"Yep," replied Halen, from across the clearing, leaning against a different tree.

Kakashi appeared next to Halen again, and again his hand met nothing but open air.

"Another clone. You know, Halen, it's getting close to lunch time. It doesn't matter how good you are at evading me. If you don't have a bell by then, you still fail."

Another Halen, from across the clearing again, shrugged. "I know. I've already got one." He dangled the shiny silver orb from his hand. It chimed softly in the wind.

The copy ninja stared down at his belt. All three bells were still on it.

"Made you look," said Halen coolly. The copy ninja zipped towards him and kicked through the clone, the "bell" the imitation he was holding falling to earth as a twig.

"Transformation jutsu combined with clone jutsu," remarked Kakashi. "Pretty good, but... it still won't get you a bell or genin status."

"Yeah. That and a voucher will get you a bowl of ramen at that place Naruto likes," replied Halen, sitting on the top of the post Naruto was tied to. Kakashi again kicked through the clone, which disappeared. The moment he did, another Halen appeared behind him, shaking his head.

"I will fight you, but not if you insist on treating this fight like a walk in the park. Your abilities are a matter of public record, Kakashi, and I know that you haven't been taking this exercise even close to seriously. I also know that you have no idea where I really am. When you're ready to fight me for real, flip up that headband of yours and show me your sharingan. Then I'll come out to play."

"So you want to see my sharingan, huh? Well, unfortunately for you, I don't have to show it to you, because from the clock, it looks like we're just about out of time." Kakashi passed a hand through the Halen clone and it disappeared; none emerged to replace it. No sooner had he done so than the clock's alarm went off: the hands pointed to noon. Kakashi checked his belt again – all three bells were still on it.

Sasuke and Sakura emerged from the woods shortly thereafter and sat by their posts, stomachs making hungry noises.

Kakashi tutted. "Uh-oh. Stomachs growling, huh? That's too bad. Oh, by the way, about this exercise. I've decided I won't send any of you back to the academy." The ensuing celebration was short-lived.

Naruto appeared ecstatic. "Wait, so that means all three of us-"

"Yes. All three of you... are being dropped from the program. Permanently."

The looks of horror from the trio were interrupted as Halen shuffled out of the forest, hands in the pockets of his gray-black slacks.

"You mean all four of us, surely."

Kakashi ignored him.

"Drop us from the program? That means we can never become ninja!" Naruto was shouting. "You said if we couldn't take the bells you'd send us back to the academy. You can't just change your mind and kick us out! Why would you do that?"

"Because you don't think like ninja. You think like little kids. Like brats."

At this, Sasuke charged at the jonin, but Kakashi restrained him in a second.

"You think it's all about you," the silver-haired ninja continued, amid Sakura's protests. "You don't know what it means to be a ninja. You think it's a game, huh? Why do you think we put you in squads? Did you consider that question for one moment?"

Sakura's eyes went wide. "What do you mean?"

"I mean that you never realized what this exercise was all about. Not even close."

Naruto now looked as confused as Sakura. "What it's about?"

"Yes. That's what determines whether you pass or fail."

The pink-haired girl was shaking her head. "But that's - I mean I wanted to ask you about that from the beginning-"

"Use your head. Three people on a squad – four on this one – why do you think we would do that?"

"How are we supposed to know why you picked three people?" Naruto protested, struggling against the ropes tying him to the post. "We didn't make the rules."

"It's so basic! Teamwork!"

Sakura looked even more confused than she did before. "Just working together? Is that what you mean?"

"That's what I mean. It's too late now, but if all four of you had come at me, you might have been able to take them. Well, anyway, it's over."

From Kakashi's left, Halen sighed heavily. "I was afraid you'd say something like that. I realize the ninja art is the art of deception, but if you could just stop lying for even a second, I'd really appreciate it."

"Lying?" asked Kakashi sternly, turning to look at Halen, though Sasuke remained under his foot. "What do you mean?"

Halen shook his head. "The only way we, working together, could have taken that bell from you is through your own carelessness or lax behavior. You are Kakashi Hatake, the Copy Ninja, son of the White Fang and one of the Leaf Village's seniormost jonin. I am willing to wager that there are groups of four jonin who couldn't take those bells from your belt if you were set on denying them. Four genin candidates working in concert, who could barely use chakra, taking them from you? Ridiculous. You see, I guessed right at the beginning that this test was about teamwork, but I felt I must have been wrong, because all a four-pronged genin attack against you would achieve is four defeated genin."

"It doesn't matter how stronger I am. You are all stronger together than separate."

Again, Halen shook his head. "Not true. The only way to defeat someone of your strength, Kakashi, would be lateral doctrine. A group may be able to execute a single strategy with greater strength than an individual, but it sacrifices creativity and flexibility to adhere to that strategy. To find the winning strategy against you, we would have needed a highly unorthodox plan, and the more individual ideas we could have tried, the better. And don't tell me that we could have agreed on a plan together, because you would have undoubtedly spied on any such coordination."

Kakashi shrugged. "Well, how's this, then? I'm going to give you all one final second chance to defeat me. If you win, you pass and can become genin. If you lose, you're permanently out of the program. And I'll even give you a few minutes to eat lunch. While you do, I won't spy on you, and you'll have the chance to share a strategy with everyone else. Since I watched you sit in the shadow of that tree for the whole session, I know you must have been thinking of a way to beat me, Halen. How's that?"

For the third time, Halen shook his head. "You weren't watching me the whole time, and I'm not talking about my little trickery with the clones. If you were, you would have noticed that." He pointed upwards.

Kakashi followed his finger and stared at the open sky. "What am I supposed to be seeing exactly?"

"The sun. If it were noon, the sun would be directly overhead, but I'd say it's a few degrees too far east, wouldn't you?"

The jonin's eyes suddenly narrowed. From his uncomfortable position beneath Kakashi's boot, Sasuke tried to look up, and Sakura covered her mouth. Naruto's expression was one of blank uncomprehension. Halen continued.

"You see, we don't need a second try because we're still on our first try. While you were off fighting, I set the clock forward and you didn't notice. You see, I knew that this test wasn't really about taking the bells from you, unless it turned out you're massively incompetent or were going really easy on us, Kakashi. I decided that once you thought time had elapsed and we'd failed the test, you'd tell us what it's really about. Then we could do whatever it was you said and pass the test. But teamwork..." Halen shrugged. "Let's just say it was a little bit of a disappointing answer. I'd say we've got about fifteen minutes before noon."

"But that's still enough time to work as a team," exclaimed Sakura.

"No need," shot back Halen. "Every step of the way, everything the three of you have done, you've fought on Kakashi's terms. The way to win a battle is to fight on your own terms. We do what he says, all we're doing is fighting on his terms even more, so now we're going to fight on my terms."

Halen jumped at Kakashi, straight into a high kick from the jonin which passed right through the aggressor. The clone disappeared as Halen came in from behind, fist outstretched in a high punch. Kakashi caught the strike in his palm far from its mark, but the moment he did, the copy ninja's eyes went wide with shock, and a small trickle of blood dripped from his neck. Halen grinned as the camouflage jutsu around his hand was dismissed, revealing a lengthy blade strapped to his arm, extending a foot past his fist. The very tip of it had sliced shallowly into Kakashi's neck.

In an instant, Halen was on the ground underneath Kakashi, the jonin having restrained him, but the copy ninja was breathing hard.

"He cut Kakashi sensei!" gasped Sakura, her hands near her mouth. "Halen could have killed him!"

"Yeah, but Kakashi got him," said a freed Sasuke, rising slowly.

"Not really," remarked Halen. "I win."

"What do you mean?" asked Sakura. "I mean, Kakashi is-"

"His blade was poisoned," gasped Kakashi. Even as he said it, his arm stiffened and he clutched it in apparent agony, then fell to the ground beside Halen. The fourth genin stood and wiped himself off.

"Yes. Poison. It's a fast-acting cholinergic nerve toxin... you know what, I'll spare you the details. The point is this: it's a poison of my own design. There is no other poison like it in the world. I know how to cure it. The cure doesn't physically exist anywhere, nor is the formula written down, but I know what it is and I can make the antidote and cure you if – and only if – you give me the bells."

Kakashi was breathing hard and only stared at Halen.

"I cut you in the neck, so the poison has already spread throughout your whole body and you can't leech it out. Are you confused? I should explain that I very rapidly realized that the only way to beat you was to attack you in such a way that you didn't realize you had to defend yourself until it was already too late. You didn't realize I was trying to cut you with a poisoned blade until it had already sliced through your skin. What was it you said? A shinobi must learn to see through deception? Now, you can still deny the bells... destroying them, for example, but if you do that I'll just let you die. Anyway, I think I'll be taking those."

Halen reached for the bells, but Kakashi caught his hand an inch away.

"This was supposed to be a test about teamwork," Kakashi gasped. Halen knocked his hand away and grabbed the three bells, pulling them off Kakashi's belt.

"Yeah, well, you can't always get what you want," replied Halen. "Teamwork didn't win this battle. I'll bet the Fourth Hokage taught you that teamwork is important to a ninja. Far from it from me to contradict the Fourth. I guess I'm just not a very good shinobi. Here."

He tossed one bell to Sakura, Sasuke, and Naruto each. Sasuke's eyes were narrow, Sakura's wide, and Naruto's blank.

"Hey, why are you giving us these?" asked Naruto, still tied to the post.

"Teamwork," said Halen by way of reply. "I certainly don't need to be weighed down with them while I'm taking Kakashi to the hospital."

He stepped over Kakashi, hoisted the jonin onto his shoulder, and jumped into the trees and off. The remaining trio watched him go.

"What just happened?" asked Sakura.

"Something's not right here," said Sasuke darkly, glaring at the bell in his hand. "Halen was right. A genin shouldn't be able to beat a ninja like Kakashi. So what did just happen? Who is he?"

* * *

><p>"How are you feeling, Kakashi?"<p>

Kakashi sat up in bed. "I'm fine, Lord Hokage. I felt better the moment Halen gave me whatever antidote it was he mixed up, but the hospital is insisting that I should stay here overnight."

"What happened? I was watching, but I want to hear it from you, Kakashi. Did you really just get careless?"

The copy ninja's eyes narrowed. "No. Not exactly. That concealed armblade... the moment Halen's camouflage jutsu broke, I could smell poison on the blade, but not a moment before. Concealing the appearance of something is easy enough, but making something like that weapon disappear entirely, from sight, sound, and smell... that's powerful jutsu indeed. I haven't seen anything like it since the war."

The Hokage nodded gravely. "I am now considering the possibility that Halen is an enemy infiltrator. I've confined him to his quarters until the Black Ops have completed their investigation into him. If you are ready to return to duty, you will take command of squad 7: Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto. I'm afraid we have to pass the three of them. They all obtained bells before the time limit elapsed."

"Because Halen gave them to them," mused Kakashi. "I wonder, why did he do that?"

* * *

><p>"They're talking about me right now," muttered Halen. "I'm sorry about all the precautions, my lord, but before there was only one Anbu outside my room. Now there are eight."<p>

The Lord of the Five sighed heavily. "Halen, that's because you drew attention to yourself. Why did you do that? After I expressly told you not to? You might as well have shown them your Master of Two Worlds jutsu!"

"Because of change, milord. Let me explain. I couldn't pass with the other three new members of squad seven. I'd be joining them then. My duty is to watch them on your orders, not become part of the squad. If I were fighting alongside them, imagine how much I could accidentally alter the timeline. Nor could I fail the exam, because then I'd be removed from the program and likely asked to leave the Leaf. That is also unacceptable. My only alternative was to pass the exam in such a way that they wouldn't put me into squad seven, and that's exactly what I did."

The Lord sighed again. "Fine. Just don't leave the room until suspicion drops away from you, okay Halen? And one last thing – why did you-"

"Why did I give them the bells? I have a sort of revised version of the golden rule. You know the golden rule, don't you, Lord? Do unto others as you would have others do unto you? Mine is a little more retributive. I actually do unto others as others try to do unto me. Kakashi tried to humiliate me – us – so I humiliated him."

"Halen... this mission requires a softer touch than this. You can't go around beating powerful jonin like Kakashi. Remember. Subtlety."

"This is why you should have sent Shin, sir."

"I'm starting to see that."

The conference jutsu broke, and Halen was once again left alone in his room. He flopped down onto his bed, vaguely aware that the Anbu would probably come to interrogate him soon.

_Of course, there's another reason I cut that exercise short. I know what happened on the unadultered timeline. If I hadn't stopped him, Kakashi would have, as an example, threatened to kill Sasuke unless Sakura killed Naruto. Then he would have shown them the memorial stone and given them a second chance, but forbidden them to let Naruto have any lunch.  
><em>

_His exact words:  
>"An impossible situation. The enemy takes a hostage and someone ends up dead."<br>"I make the rules. You follow them."  
><em>

_He thinks he's teaching them not to make the same mistake he did. I don't know if Kakashi knows this, but that's not teaching, nor is it testing. Recreating a trauma is a psychiatric disorder. It's common in sufferers of post-traumatic stress disorder and abuse. He's recreating that same day for them... that day he got his sharingan. I can't help but wonder... in his mind, are he and Sasuke the same? I probably shouldn't have stopped him going through with that, for the sake of the timeline, but it just didn't feel right to let him go ahead and project onto them all. They'll have to learn teamwork some other way.  
><em>


	4. Chapter 4: A Bridge Builder

Chapter 4: A Bridge Builder

"_Firefist Halen. Do you know why they call me Firefist Halen? It's not a name I picked for myself. It's a nickname I picked up after someone witnessed my Heated Heart jutsu - it was he who named me Firefist."_

There was a knock at Halen's door, and the infiltrator woke with a startled snort, his eyes immediately wide and alert. A glance at his clock told him it was six AM in the morning, though recent events had taught everyone how wrong clocks could be. Halen grinned to himself.

The would-be Leaf genin stood to answer the rapping at his chamber door, though his scrying jutsu told him exactly who it was long before he answered the knock.

"Hello, Kakashi," he said as pulled the door open. "What can I do for you?"

Sure enough, the silver-haired copy ninja was standing alone outside Halen's room, hands carelessly stuffed in his pockets and a lazy look in his one uncovered eye.

"I was just stopping by to see how you were doing," answered Kakashi.

"That's pretty friendly of you. No hard feelings about the test, then?"

"No. None."

"I have to doubt this was a social call, Kakashi. You're not known for your punctuality and yet you're here pretty early in the day, not to mention that I've been confined to my room while I'm under investigation by the Black Ops. Of course, you'd probably know that, being a former Anbu yourself, so why did you come by?"

The copy ninja rubbed the back of his head. "I was just wondering why it was you gave Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura those bells."

Halen leaned against his doorframe. "Isn't it enough that they needed them and I had them?"

"In another person, maybe, but I don't really think that's the kind of person you are."

The impostor nodded slowly. "You're a better judge of character than I gave you credit for, Kakashi. If you really must know why I gave them those bells, it's because I knew what you were going to have them do if I hadn't. The standard for passing that exam is teamwork, isn't it? I know what your standard for teamwork is. I know what kind of situation you would have created."

"Really?" asked the sharingan warrior. "And what situation is that?"

For a moment, Halen said nothing, as if considering his words carefully. At last, he simply said, "Sasuke isn't you, Kakashi."

A bemused look crossed Kakashi's face, but Halen thought that for the smallest instant, he caught an expression other than that. Surprise? Realization?

"I don't think I ever said he was," replied the copy ninja.

"No? Well, I think you ought be going now. I've got an interview with the Anbu is about three hours and I want to get a little more sleep before then."

Kakashi shrugged and turned to go, but he'd hardly taken two steps before Halen called after him.

"Kakashi! A word to the wise: I hear that there's a bridge being built in the land of waves."

The copy ninja turned and gave Halen a quizzical look. "Oh?"

"Yes, but there's a problem with the construction. It gets pretty misty in the land of waves, you see, makes it hard to build a bridge. People say that there's a demon that lives in that mist, and anyone who challenges him by working in the fog will die. Keep that in mind."

The copy ninja seemed to consider Halen for a minute before finally nodding his head. "Sure, Halen. Thanks."

With that, Halen closed his door and flopped back down on his bed, and in an instant, he was asleep.

* * *

><p>"Welcome back, Shin. Arcus. I appreciate you returning on such short notice."<p>

The blue-haired Arcus bowed low, but Shin hardly inclined his head, unhappiness written across his face.

"My lord," Shin began tentatively, "why have you recalled me? I am sure that my work trailing the Akatsuki will pinpoint the inflection point, if only you would be so good as to permit me to continue."

The Lord shook his head heavily, a kind but knowing, weary smile written across his face as he did. "I am now convinced completely that the Akatsuki have nothing to do with the inflection point."

"My Lord, I must protest-"

"Shin, what is an inflection point?"

The dark-haired retainer looked up, startled. "It's the point of no return."

"That's one way to put it," agreed the Lord. "The inflection point is the point in time that the world irrevocably starts down a path that will lead to its own destruction. It is crucial that we locate this inflection point and either stop it before it occurs or, if necessary, create a second inflection that pulls the world off away from a destructive and inevitably terminal fate. The inflection point cannot occur naturally. Natural forces: the world's revolution around the sun, the tides, even volcanic eruptions, are governed by natural law and do not change the path the world exists on. The inflection point, therefore, must take the form of a human decision."

"A human decision made by the Akatsuki. Theirs is-"

"Theirs is what? Shin, we came back in time to now because we had determined the inflection point had already occurred in our future, but not in this past. If the inflection point was any decision of the Akatsuki's it would have occurred earlier still. The Akatsuki have only one purpose, one objective that has never changed, be it stated or secret."

Shin's face was heavy. "Then why do you think that the inflection point exists because of the actions of Sasuke Uchiha or Naruto Uzumaki? Do you really think that either of these men are likely to bring about the end of the world?"

The Lord of the Five shrugged, a kind smile still written into his face. "No, but I believe if we follow them, we will find the inflection point. We will find the moment that someone makes a decision that will lead us down the worst path."

The other man with the dark hair sighed heavily. "So I guess you want me to go help Halen watch the Leaf, do you?"

"No, not all," said the Lord, shaking his head. "I called you back because Halen has encountered a problem with his cover story and has been confined to his room in the Leaf. He should be able to keep track of our people of interest for a while, but they'll soon leave the Leaf Village on mission to the land of waves. I could have Halen continue to keep track of them, but I've decided that it's better for the mission if you take over while he's under investigation, Shin."

Shin closed his eyes. "I see. With you permission, your lordship, I take my leave."

The Lord nodded slightly and without so much as another gesture, Shin disappeared. It wasn't until the other had gone that Arcus stood and ran his fingers through his blue hair, concern written across his face.

"You weren't totally honest with Shin. You told him that Halen was confined and under investigation due to a problem with his cover story, not because of his own indiscretion."

Still smiling, the Lord nodded. "So I did."

"And how do you know that Squad 7 is going to the land of waves?" continued Arcus.

The Lord of the Five's smile broadened. "Well, I don't know how Halen knows, but before we left the 'future', I paid a little visit to the Leaf Village's mission archives and took a copy of everything I could find. Kakashi Hatake's report on this expedition to the land of waves is very complete."

Arcus nodded slowly. "Very well. If Shin is already aware of the details of the mission before he even leaves, he should do just fine, but I still think we should reprimand Halen for bringing so much suspicion on himself so quickly."

The Lord dismissed the possibility with a shake of his head. "No. There's no point punishing Halen for who he is. When we dispatched Halen to the Leaf Village, I knew he wouldn't be the most discrete agent we could have sent. He knew it too, he even said so at the time. That's because Halen has more than just a fiery hand. His heart, his spirit burn just as bright, and that fire can't be contained by the demands of stealth and discretion. That's why he, not you, is the Guardian of Spirit. Isn't that right, Firefist?" The Lord turned towards the shadows behind him and smiled.

Invisible boots struck out loud footfalls against the stone pavement, and a man's dark figure emerged from the shadows behind the Lord's seat. Arcus' eyes fixed on the intruder's face instantly; even his controlled expression unable to suppress his surprise.

"Halen! What are you doing here? You ought to be in the Leaf, continuing your mission."

"I am in the Leaf," he said more quietly than Halen was usually inclined to do. "I am also here."

"I see," said Arcus after a moment's consideration. "So this is what you meant when you said you both carry out the mission and remain at our Lord's side."

The Lord held up a hand, stopping the conversation. "We'll talk about that later. For the moment, tell me this: what do you know about a man named Zabuza?"

* * *

><p>"Hypnotic regression jutsu!"<p>

Halen looked unimpressed. "Was that supposed to do something?"

The two Anbu stared at each other, expressions unreadable behind their white masks and dark hoods. Without another word, the two members of the Black Ops leapt from Halen's room, not knowing that he was following them with his scrying jutsu.

"The hypnotic regression jutsu should allow me to place him in a state that makes it easy to access his memories," one was saying, "but it didn't have any affect."

"He resisted it?" asked the other Anbu, a woman.

The first masked agent stared at the other, his eyes just visible beneath the mask. "No. He didn't resist it. It had no effect whatsoever, like I was using it on a stone."

"Maybe he deceived us somehow, like-"

"No, I sensed no chakra presence whatsoever. Even a clone or an illusion would have had required some chakra. Something is very strange about that boy."

The Firefist chuckled to himself as he focused his inner eye elsewhere, seeking out the four people who'd he'd been sent to the Leaf Village to keep an eye on. He found Kakashi, Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto standing before the Hokage and the rest of the mission panel.

"I'm tired of going on these lame missions and being treated like a kid!" Naruto was yelling. "I want a real ninja mission!"

Halen smirked at the same time the Hokage sighed.

"So be it," answered the Hokage. "I will give your squad a C ranked mission, escorting a VIP to the land of waves."

"Alright! Who's it going to be? A princess? A councilman?"

A tall, tan man in a straw hat, reeking of liquor and with little more than a thin cord to check his bulging waistband walked into the room and sneered slightly at the sight of his escort. He took another swig from the white bottle of sake he had in left hand and patted the pocket of his brown tunic as his face twisted into a derisive sneer at the sight of Naruto.

"What's this supposed to be? Children?"

On the other side of the Leaf Village, Halen snorted in his bed.

"No. A bridge builder."


End file.
